Charlie, who plays happy-go-lucky car salesman Darren Miller, says he has ­decided to quit the BBC1 soap so he can “chill out and enjoy being a normal 20-year-old”.

But he is keen for TV bosses to keep his character alive so he has the ­option of returning one day.

Charlie stunned producers when he announced he wanted to move on – and has admitted it was one of the toughest decisions of his life.

Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, Charlie said: “It is a very weird feeling to know I won’t be on the show in a few months.

“To be honest I can barely ­remember life before EastEnders. It will be great having no ­structure to my life and not having to learn lines, I’m really looking forward to that.

“I’ve got some savings so I might just end up bumming around for a while. All I spend my money on is my Arsenal season ticket so I could last quite a long time.”

Charlie, from Islington, North London, who has also appeared in Foyle’s War and Ali G In Da House, has been at the centre of several ­explosive storylines since he joined EastEnders at the age of 13 as a junior member of the trouble-making Miller clan.

One ­included the “­whodunnit” ­pregnancy riddle of frumpy ­Heather Trott, played by Cheryl ­Fergison.